![[RSS Feed]](http://kiwiwriters.org/s/rss.png)
Titles
Posted by: kerrynangell
What is it about titles? Titles of blog posts, news articles, short stories, novels?
I had a realisation the other day while writing the September news item for Kiwi Writers that I have no problem coming up with titles for the news items or for blog posts.
“Why,” I wondered, “What is the secret?”
Imagine Winnie the Pooh sitting on his log, under his door labelled Sanders, an empty pot of honey beside him and his paw tapping his head... think... think... think.
I’ve always had great difficulty coming up with titles for my stories. I blogged ( Title Me!) about how I found my title for Seeking Queen Praedar (my current work in progress) a couple weeks ago after listening to an episode of Whispers at the Edge . It was great to have a structured brainstorming session and not have to love the first title that occurred to me. I’m not even that attached to it that it couldn’t change if something better came along or a publisher requested it*. It is something I’m more than happy to work with.
A title gives a story a sense of existence. It is a little bit like naming any other creation or loved thing and we all know the strife around naming characters. Most of the stories I’ve written, whether novel length or short story, have gone by working titles that are barely a step up from ‘untitled fantasy adventure, book one’.
A title is the name of something. In the case of a story, an article or blog post a title is a summary in the shortest form. The shorter the item we’re trying to summarise (blog post or new item) the easier it is because the core things about it stand out more than in a longer work (non-fiction book, academic paper) or in fiction in general. Non-fiction is generally centred on one topic or general theme. This comes first so generally the title will come first. With fiction the large piece plays out on the page first and from this we needed to decide what the main topic and theme is, which in itself is a hard job.
One answer could be beginning a piece of fiction with the title. We tried this on Kiwi Writers with the Dictionary Impossible challenge. But we all know that ideas can come from anywhere and grow in the way that they want to.
So after all that thinking and now that Pooh is hungry for some more honey I come back to the structured brainstorming. It’s the best title tool I’ve found so far.
*positive thinking, everyone!**
**You can blame Bartimaeus from for the footnote.
Labels: (none)
27 Sep 2007 20:59:34
Comments
On 30 Sep 2007 16:41:32 gaye-belle said:
Interesting point kerryn, yet the title is important. It is what catches the eye to sell. Favourite author could take precedence, but if it's an unknown then other things may attract such as the illustrated cover, maybe even the colour or the length of the book. Ultimately it's the title that takes me to the next stage of reading the flyleaf to find out what the story is about. I enjoyed reading the 'Dictionary Impossible challenge' some great innovations there.
On 26 Oct 2007 14:00:59 Travis said:
Hey Kerryn,
I think you can take a lot away from the whole Nanowrimo experience when it comes to titles.
Like any first draft, a first title doesn't have to be great. If you are having a difficult time coming up with a title, then it's probably your inner editor talking.
The same way you edit your story, you edit your title.